‘Help T.N. fishers attend Katchatheevu festival’
The Hindu
The Chief Minister writes to the Minister for External Affairs
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Friday wrote to Union Minister for External Affairs S. Jaishankar requesting him to urge Sri Lanka to allow Tamil Nadu fishermen to take part in the annual festival of St. Anthony’s Church at Katchatheevu.
DMK MP T.R. Baalu handed over the letter to Mr. Jaishankar in New Delhi.
The festival of St. Antony is celebrated every February/March. The Sri Lankan authorities did not allow Tamil Nadu fishermen to take part in the festival this year “citing various reasons”, said the letter, a copy of which was shared with the media. “The Tamil fishermen and pilgrims have a spiritual and emotional attachment to St. Antony’s Church in Katchatheevu, and have been participating in this traditional event for several decades now. The news of the denial of permission by the Sri Lankan authorities has caused deep disappointment among the fishermen community in the State,” Mr. Stalin said.
In 2011, the Karnataka government announced that five botanical gardens will be developed on the lines of the Lalbagh Botanical Garden in Bengaluru across the State. But according to the latest developments, there will only be four such gardens as the Horticulture Department is most likely to drop the project that was supposed to come up in Chikkaballapura district.